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Beer lovers have a reason to toast this year’s provincial budget but oenophiles won’t be able to pick up their preferred alcoholic beverage at their local supermarket just yet, Premier Kathleen Wynne has suggested.

The Premier’s Advisory Council on Government Assets, led by banker Ed Clark, will release its final report Thursday with recommendations to maximize the value of Hydro One, Ontario Power Generation (OPG) and the LCBO.

One of the first issues to stick in Clark’s craw was the private Beer Store monopoly and market access for Ontario’s craft brewers.

Wynne had earlier stated that her spring budget, which will put Clark’s recommendations into effect, would likely allow beer and wine sales in large grocery stores.

The government is now stepping back from that commitment, saying that it’s only ready to put beer on supermarket shelves.

“The fact is we do have wine that’s being sold already in some grocery stores,” Wynne said. “We need to build on that ... but the beer store was the entry point into levelling the playing field, creating more convenience and more fairness.”

More “conversations” are needed with the wine sector before that product will appear in grocery stores, except for small private outfits like the Wine Rack, she said.

Progressive Conservative Interim Leader Jim Wilson said many other countries around the world manage to sell wine in grocery stores but apparently it’s too difficult a feat for the Ontario Liberal government.

“They’ve once again set out on a course that they haven’t thoroughly thought out,” Wilson said. “I think at the end of the day they won’t get this right.”

Clark is also expected to report on a controversial proposal to sell off a portion of Hydro One.

CUPE Ontario released a legal opinion Wednesday that argued such a move would violate provincial laws that require proceeds from any sale of Hydro One be used to pay down electricity system debt.

Wynne intends to put the funds into a Trillium Trust that would invest in infrastructure such as roads and transit.

On a recent trade mission to China, the need for more infrastructure was a topic of conversation, Wynne said.

“I heard from businesses and government officials in China that one of the reasons that they might look askance at actually investing in Ontario is because they’re not sure that the commitment to infrastructure is there,” she said. “So we cannot sacrifice our future prosperity and our future economic health by not investing in infrastructure.”